write:This was not the John Hardin who was acolonel in the U.S.-Mexican War and for whom a countyseat in Illinois was named but her great-grandfatherJohn Hardin a colonel in Wayne’s

Ellen Hardin had as a patriotic forefatherJohn Hardin. This was not the John Hardin who was acolonel in the U.S.-Mexican War
and for whom a countyseat in Illinois was named
but her great-grandfatherJohn Hardin
a colonel in Wayne’s campaign
alieutenant in Morgan’s rie corps
and the recipient ofpublic thanks from General Gates for his “distinguishedservices” at the Battle of Saratoga. “When the rst callfor troops was made to resist Great Britain John Hardinbegan recruiting
” she proudly stated. “He was in themarch through Canada and in every engagement andmovement of the Rie Corps until 1779.”10She looked back to the John Hardin for whom HardinCounty in Kentucky
Hardin County in Ohio
and HardinCounty in Illinois were named
a man whom Ellen neverknew but had no problem imagining and describing. Buthers was a selective history. She recounted how “in1792 he was sent from Kentucky by special order ofGeneral Washington
through General Wilkinson
on amission of peace to the Indians of Northern Ohio
andwas massacred by them.” But she left out of the storyJohn Hardin’s long history of violence against Indians.She never mentioned his assaults on Indian villages fromVirginia to Indiana
despite the fame those acts gainedhim among both white and Indian people during his life.She said nothing about his troubled history with theShawnee who killed him. And she certainly nevermentioned the slave who was murdered by his side.11The Daughters of the American Revolution wasfounded in the fervent belief that awareness aboutAmerica’s rst patriots would lead Americans to live upto “the principles they planted.” But John Hardin’shistory with slaves and Indians was not the legacy Ellencared to transmit. Western expansion had always comeat a cost to someone. In her nostalgic remembrance